Friday, March 25, 2016

Follow the money

Sent to US News. March 25

The decline in support for school nurses ("Many school districts don't have enough school nurses, March 23) has been accompanied by a decline in support for school libraries, despite clear evidence that school nurses and libraries have a positive impact on school achievement. As US News points out, the school nurse is often the only source of accessible health care for children of poverty. Similarly, the school library is often their only source of books.Schools seem to have plenty of money for chrome books and other expensive technology, but according to a major report by the Organization of Economic Cooperation Development, this has not been shown to be of use to students. Schools also seem to be eager to spend even more on untested new hi-tech teaching machines (competency-based education). Why this discrepancy? The ruling class, sometimes known as the .01%, makes big profits on new technology, but makes very little when we provide adequate health care and access to books.

Stephen Krashen

original article:http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-23/the-school-nurse-scourge

Sources:

value of school nurses: Berliner, D. 2009. Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Factors and School Success. Boulder and Tempe: Education and the Public Interest Center & Education Policy Research Unit. http://epicpolicy.org/publication/poverty-and-potential; http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/lb/schoollibrstats08.asp